


Can't Fight the Feeling

by Ultra



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Assistant Darcy Lewis, Avengers Family, Awkward Romance, Babysitting, Battle, Bedside Vigils, Beginnings, F/M, Falling In Love, Family, Fights, First Dates, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Gen, Hulk Feels, Hulk Smash, Loki's Kids, Love, Magic and Science, Mind Control, Mind Manipulation, Past Relationship(s), Secrets, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-08
Updated: 2015-11-08
Packaged: 2018-04-29 15:18:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5132399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/pseuds/Ultra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to '<a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/2553485">Avengers in Babysitting</a>'. While Darcy continues to set her sights on a somewhat reluctant Bruce, Steve has taken it upon himself to be the protector of Mary-Kate and baby Phil. Perhaps both pairs are destined for a little more than friendship, but with plenty of obstacles to face, it might be a rocky road in getting to the happy ending. Bruce is worried that Darcy does not truly understand what he (or rather The Other Guy) is capable of, whilst Mary-Kate worries that one day Loki may find out about their son and come looking for him. It's entirely possibly that they're both completely right in their concerns, but can that really change their feelings for those closest to them?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [Marvel Bang](http://marvel-bang.livejournal.com/).

It had been a couple of weeks now, and life had settled into a new kind of rhythm. When Darcy Lewis started interning at Stark Tower, she hadn’t really known what to expect, but it certainly hadn’t been a crash course in baby-sitting, and developing the lusty wrong feelings for a guy that spent a portion of his time being over-sized and green.

Maybe she should’ve expected it, or at least known things wouldn’t be exactly normal. After all, her internship with Jane had involved discovering a so-called demi-god from another world, which in turn had led to her being here, making friends with superheroes. It was odd to feel like one of such a team, and yet Darcy did feel strangely like she belonged amongst the spies and super-strength folks now, even though she wasn’t either of those things.

“Well, I’m not the only one,” she muttered her thoughts to herself as she passed by one particular door in the residential portion of the tower.

Mary-Kate and her baby, Phil, were the newest house-guests amongst the Avengers, and as much as Darcy had bonded with the kid, she couldn’t quite warm to the mother. It was a terrible thing to her that anybody would even consider giving up on their own baby, just because they found out something bad about the father. Loki was a maniac, a murderer, a monster, but the son he knew nothing of was just a sweetheart.

It was still a weird coincidence that the kid’s name had proven to be Phil, the same name the Avengers team had given him for as long as he was in their care. They named him for Coulson, a fallen ally, at the hands of the baby’s father, no less. When Mary-Kate had returned to the tower, she explained that she had named her son for a recently deceased uncle. It was strange moment as those in the team wondered at the possible connection, if perhaps Coulson’s niece could be sat before them, but it wasn’t true. The name of Phil was just a cosmic coincidence and Darcy was glad of that, it was one less complication to worry about.

Moving towards the elevator, Darcy hit the call button and got a surprise when the doors opened almost immediately to reveal a startled Steve Rogers.

“Hey, Cap,” she greeted him with a grin. “You weren’t coming to find me, right?”

“No, not at all,” he shook his head. “Not that it isn’t always a pleasure to talk to you, Darcy,” he assured her in the next breath, ever the gentleman and concerned he may have offended. “I, er... I thought I’d come see how Mary-Kate was coping. She doesn’t seem to leave her room much and... Well, all alone, cooped up with a baby, I just thought...”

“I’m sure she’d love the company,” Darcy told him, even as he shifted awkwardly before her. “And Phil will be happy to see you, I’ll bet,” she smiled.

They switched places then, her getting into the elevator and him getting out. Steve nodded a goodbye as he walked away and Darcy tried her best not to giggle. He may be the great Captain America but at the same time Steve Rogers was an ordinary stand-up kind of a guy that was way out of his comfort zone in the modern world. He wanted to do the right thing at all costs, and Darcy had noticed that he was using that need to be the upstanding citizen to cover what she was pretty sure was an attraction to Mary-Kate.

“I personally don’t get it,” she said to herself. “But hey, anything to loosen the guy up a little.”

“Miss Lewis?” said a voice then, making her physically jump.

“Hey, J.A.R.V.I.S.,” she replied then, eyes to the speaker in the ceiling. “You got more errands for me to run for the boss man?” she checked.

“I’m afraid I do,” he told her. “Though it is actually Ms. Potts who was hoping to speak with you. She’s in the conference room on the fourteenth floor.”

“No probs, J.A.R.V.I.S.,” Darcy nodded, altering her choice of floors on the elevator buttons. “Thanks for the message, man.”

It didn’t take long for her to arrive on the correct floor and she hurried along to the conference room, finding the door ajar. Pepper wasn’t at the table with paperwork spread out everywhere like she usually was when she wanted Darcy’s help. She wasn’t talking to three different people in a conference call on her ear piece or trying to get Tony to be reasonable and sensible about something or other. Something was wrong, Darcy was pretty sure on that from the look on Pepper’s face, and the fact she was doing nothing else but looking worried.

“You rang?” asked Darcy with a smile, hoping to lighten the mood.

She got a brief and wobbly version of her own expression in return and Pepper invited her to sit. Ms Potts herself perched on the edge of the table top, clearly trying to think of the right way to say whatever was on her mind. Darcy’s mouth dropped open as she thought she figured out the issue for herself.

“Oh, no. You’re not firing me, are you?” she checked. “I mean, I know it’s not really firing when you’re an intern, but I didn’t...”

“Darcy, no!” Pepper insisted then. “No, honey, you’re not being fired, not at all. This really has nothing to do with you or your work, or it does, but...” Pepper faltered, shaking her head as she began again. “It’s more about Tony than it is about you.”

“Okay,” said Darcy slow, elongating the word.

She had never seen Pepper look so flustered, and suddenly she was more worried about Tony’s state of being than she had been about her own job. This situation was not at all normal.

“The fact is Tony is suffering from... well, mood swings, I guess,” said Pepper eventually.

“Isn’t that kinda normal for him?” asked Darcy carefully, mindful of being too insulting, but she meant what she said.

Pepper actually smiled at that.

“Tony is unpredictable at the best of times, yes,” she agreed. “He’s passionate about what he loves and... and he gets very frustrated by things he can’t control. The Battle of New York, it affected us all, changed our lives in ways too innumerable to count,” she shook her head. “I know Tony seems fine most of the time, but the truth is, he’s not. I don’t want to get too deep into everything, that wouldn’t be fair to him, but given that you work here, practically at the beck and call of Tony and the rest of the guys, I just wanted you to know the situation,” she explained. “If he’s short with you, makes some strange requests, acts out of character, it’s not about you, and he is okay,” she confirmed. “He’s just... he’s finally working through some stuff that’s been under the surface for quite a while. He just needs a little space and understanding.”

“I get it,” Darcy nodded confirmation. “Honestly, and I don’t mean this in a disrespectful way, but I kinda don’t think I’d notice if Tony was acting weird. Every guy here is his own kind of eccentric,” she smiled.

“Well, yes, I’ll agree with that,” Pepper grinned, unable to help herself. “Thank you for being so understanding, Darcy. I know I don’t have to remind you that discretion is key. If anyone outside of security clearance knew things were not as they should be...”

“It’s cool, I’m Silent Bob when it comes to this place,” she promised, miming zipping her lips tight shut and throwing away the key. “But since my gossip circle is pretty limited...” she said, looking around as if to check for other people before leaning in closer to Pepper. “You notice how much time a certain red, white, and blue person is spending with the mother of a certain baby?” she asked, one eyebrow raised.

“I... Well, perhaps he just feels like someone should be keeping an eye out for her,” said Pepper diplomatically, knowing just exactly what Darcy meant, of course. “I mean, with Thor back in Asgard for the time being, and Natasha and Clint away too, I suppose both Steve and Mary-Kate could use the company.”

Darcy smirked at how Pepper tried to make it all so innocent. She wasn’t even buying it herself. Something was going on, and though it wasn’t any of her business, Darcy kind of liked that Cap might be getting a little action. He was such a nice guy, so upstanding and decent, not to mention hot. He deserved somebody to call his own, and it couldn’t be easy to date when you were choronologically like ninety years old!

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said a voice.

Both Pepper and Darcy looked around to see Bruce hovering awkwardly in the doorway. For someone who had the capacity to turn into a green giant when angry, trampling cars, small buildings, and all without a care, he was ridiculously nervous and unsure of himself when in regular human form. Darcy couldn’t help but find that as adorable as she found the good doctor hot.

“It’s fine, Bruce. We were just finishing up,” said Pepper, hopping down from the table and moving to leave.

Left alone with Darcy, the doctor looked even more awkward if that were possible. She knew she shouldn’t like it so much that she had that effect on him, but Darcy couldn’t help the smile that spread across her lips as she got up from her seat and faced Bruce.

“Anything I can help with, Doc?” she checked.

“Er, no. Thank you,” he smiled, moving around her with a wide berth. “I just... I left my jacket here before,” he explained as he retrieved it from the back of another chair and then quickly moved to leave.

Darcy shook her head and gave chase out into the hall. This was so dumb, the way he always tried to get away from her. Darcy knew Bruce liked her well enough. They got along, even though they didn’t have so much in common as some people might. When they spent some time together looking after Baby Phil, Darcy actually convinced herself she was breaking through the barriers Bruce seemed to have put up against just about everybody. He took her out for coffee a couple of weeks ago, though he took some serious cajoling. It’d been nice, sitting across a table from each other with a hot beverage, just watching the world go by. They didn’t talk much, well, Bruce didn’t anyway. Darcy knew she had a habit of talking at people, but he didn’t seem bored at all. He smiled and laughed in the right places, helped her feel better about all that had happened with Phil and Mary-Kate, and everything. Since then, Darcy had seen next to nothing of her doctor friend. Every time she came across him somewhere in the building he seemed to be hurrying to get away from her. Well, not today.

“You could give a girl a complex, Doc,” she said, stopping the elevator door before it could shut between them.

“I’m sorry?” he replied, trying to play innocent and naive.

Darcy knew way better than that.

“Seriously?” she said, wide-eyed with shock. “You’re gonna try to tell me you don’t know what I’m talking about? That you haven’t been actively avoiding me for the last two weeks?”

“Of course not,” he told her, shifting awkwardly in place, folding and refolding his jacket over his arm.

It was cute and all, but Darcy was getting pretty bored with the frightened virgin bit. She wore a frown as she realised she didn’t actually know if Bruce was virginal or not. She supposed it depended how long he’d had the big green problem as much as anything. Probably not a question for right now, of course.

The doors beeping madly because of her obstruction snapped Darcy out of a daze and she swung herself into the elevator at Bruce’s side.

“So, at the very least, I thought you and me were doing the friend thing,” she said easily, trying to meet Bruce’s eyes but he evaded at every turn. “I seriously don’t get what the problem is here. We get along, you took me out that one time...”

“If you think a trip to the coffee place down the street is a date...” he said then, shaking his head.

Darcy might have been offended at his acting like she was a stupid little girl who didn’t know a date when she ran into one. She would, if only she didn’t know this was way more about his issues than hers. The look on Bruce’s face when he finally looked at her proved that all the nervous twitches and jittery behaviour was very much genuine. She made him jumpy, and Darcy didn’t hate that she could affect a guy that much. Of course she would like it better if he could get past the fear and take a chance already.

“Am I really so scary?” she asked him out-right, striking a pose for his assessment.

A very serious kind of a look settled on his face then as he answered her.

“No, but I am,” he reminded her darkly, just as the elevator doors pinged open. “I have to go,” he said then, hurrying out into the hallway.

Darcy looked out and realised they were on the floor dedicated to labs and science. She could follow Bruce some more, but there were other people around and she had no business being here anyway. There was plenty for her to be doing, and hanging around Bruce Banner wasn’t actually on her official to do list from the boss.

“But I’m not done with you yet, Doc,” she said to herself as she selected the floor she wanted and watched the doors slide closed once again.

Bruce could be scary, that much Darcy knew to be true. She had never come face to face with the Hulk before, only seen the video footage. Sure, he looked less cute when he was huge and green, but that was just a tiny piece of who Bruce really was. She wished he would see what she saw, the really nice guy that he was ninety percent or more of the time. Well, somehow she was going to get through to him, Darcy Lewis did not give up that easily.


	2. Chapter 2

“You’re very good with children, Captain,” said Mary-Kate politely as she watched Steve bounce Phil on his knees. “Do you have much experience?”

“A little,” he admitted. “And like I said before, you should really call me Steve,” he reminded her gently.

She nodded her agreement to that. Of course she remembered him telling her to use his first name and Mary-Kate meant to do it, but it didn’t come easy. This was Captain America, the great Steve Rogers who had been presumed dead during a war that happened long before Mary-Kate was ever born. Now here he was, defrosted from ice, apparently, and as handsome and heroic as he had ever been. If anyone was going to understand how overwhelming Mary-Kate found the world to be right now, it would be him. They had different reasons, of course, but the outcome was the same. The world was a strange place, and their role on the planet right now seemed confusing and unclear.

“Not that I don’t appreciate the visit, Steve,” she said pointedly. “I mean, you’ve been so kind, all of you, but... Well, I always feel like there’s some greater purpose when anybody comes here. Like I’m waiting to be told I’m getting kicked out or... or that I’m in some kind of danger?”

“I promise you, Mary-Kate, that’s not why I’m here,” he assured her, turning the baby in his arms to hold him closer before he tipped off his lap. “Nobody is talking about having you leave unless you really want to, and we’re doing everything we can to ensure the safety of you and your baby.”

Mary-Kate believed him. She had no real reason to trust anyone here, but she did, implicitly. These men and women, they were heroes. They saved the world when they fought in the Battle of New York last year, and then in her hour of need, they took in Mary-Kate’s child and took care of him until she returned to collect him. Now the Avengers were like her own personal bodyguards, allowing her to live here in Stark Tower, in spite of the fact they knew she had borne the child of Loki.

“It amazes me, how you can all be so nice to me,” she sighed, joining Steve on the couch and running both hands back through her long red hair. “My behaviour wasn’t exactly exemplary, either at his conception or after he was born,” she said, looking sideways at her giggling son.

Steve shook his head.

“I may not be as much a part of the modern world as some on this team, but I do understand how easy it can be for people to fall victim to their own pain and longing,” he told her easily. “You know in the war, there were plenty of women striking out on their own, being more independent than ever before. Smoking, drinking, and... Well, living for the moment where men were concerned,” he explained, hating that he still couldn’t even skirt around the issue of sex without full-on blushing. “You made a mistake, it happens,” he shrugged. “But look at what you got out of it,” he smiled, bouncing Phil on his lap once again as the baby giggled madly. “If ever there was a silver lining, I think he’s most definitely it.”

“I think so too,” said Mary-Kate, reaching out a gentle hand to her son’s cheek and head. “But I do worry about him, about what he’s destined for. Given his father...”

Her voice trailed off and Steve swallowed hard. It wasn’t easy to speak kindly or objectively when it came to Loki. He was a mass-murdering fiend, not even human, though he possessed the form of a man. No doubt he could be very charming, and highly persuasive from what Thor had said. It was understandable that a drunk and vulnerable Mary-Kate was lured into his arms for the night. It was also worrying to think about a child made of half human DNA and half of an evil frost giant from Jottenheim who had been raised by the king of Asgard. It made Steve’s head spin to think about it so he couldn’t imagine what it was doing to Mary-Kate.

“Whatever blood runs in his veins,” he said of the baby, looking at Mary-Kate until she was forced to meet his eyes. “He can be a good man. I’m sure you’ll see to that, and we’re certainly willing to help. I certainly am,” he amended with a smile.

Sure, the rest of the team were willing now, but Steve didn’t have absolute faith in people like Tony when it came to the long haul. There were no guarantees on how long the Avengers project would last, how long they would all want or need to live here at the tower together. Regardless of this, Steve realised that when he told Mary-Kate he would be there for her and her son always, he genuinely meant every word.

“Well, I couldn’t possibly doubt the word of Captain America, now could I?” she said with a warm smile, her hand on his arm.

“I hope you wouldn’t,” he smiled back, feeling ridiculously bashful as he looked down at her fingers squeezing his bicep.

The moment was broken when Phil started fussing, struggling to get down from Steve’s lap onto the floor. He set the baby down on the carpet and watched with amusement as he tried to reach for a toy, attempting to roll over in his quest to get it. He was the cutest kid, it was ridiculous to think he had an evil bone in his body. Hopefully, Loki would never discover the existence of his biological son, leaving Mary-Kate in peace to raise her child into a perfectly decent young man. Steve hoped that was the case, but given the way the world usually worked, he couldn’t quite bring himself to fully believe it.

* * *

Darcy Lewis wasn’t a spy or a superhero, but that didn’t mean she didn’t know how to be sneaky or how to be tough. Today she had decided to be both these things in the pursuit of one Dr Bruce Banner. Thoroughly tired of waiting for him to make a move and constantly having her own somewhat subtle advances rebuffed, Darcy was taking serious proactive measures, and J.A.R.V.I.S. was helping her do it.

“Are you quite sure about this, Miss Lewis?” asked the exasperated voice of the A.I. “I’m not certain Dr Banner will approve of your methods.”

“The ends justify the means, J.A.R.V.I.S.,” she told him, looking up towards the speaker over her head. “Didn’t anybody ever tell you that?”

“I am certainly familiar with the phrase, yes,” he told her dryly.

“Cool,” Darcy grinned. “Now, let’s clear out that lab!” she said with too much enthusiasm.

J.A.R.V.I.S. didn’t say any more to her, but instead his voice could be heard echoing through every speaker on the laboratory floor, instructing various members of staff to leave simultaneously. J.A.R.V.I.S. redirected some up to the tech level, more still to the stores. They didn’t question the instructions that they assumed had come from their superiors, maybe even Tony Stark himself. If Darcy knew Bruce at all, she was pretty sure he wouldn’t notice his colleagues all slipping away a few at a time, because he would be so very concentrated on his own work. On the off-chance that he looked up to ask for assistance and found nobody there, it would still take him a while to realise why and go investigating. Darcy only needed a small window of opportunity here. Hovering outside the lab in which he was working, she waited for J.A.R.V.I.S. to give her the all clear and then went inside. With her all access card (which was necessary for a personal assistant to Stark and his team), Darcy let herself into the room,   
and just as fast shut and locked the sliding glass door behind her.

That at least didn’t fail in getting Dr Banner’s attention and he looked up with a double-take, startled by her presence. Darcy was getting well-used to that and today she was using it to her advantage.

“Hey, Doc,” she greeted him with a winning smile.

“Darcy, what are you doing here?” he asked, not annoyed or anything, but seemingly not especially happy to see her either. “Not that I don’t like to have you visit, but we’re all busy working here.”

“All one of you?” she asked with a smirk she couldn’t help.

Bruce looked around then, quickly realising that he was quite alone, save for Darcy. As ambushes went, she sure had planned it well. He was so caught up in his work, Bruce really hadn’t noticed the lab clearing out until it was pointed out to him. He was a little impressed, but mostly he was more than a little wary.

“Darcy,” he began, taking off his glasses and rubbing his forehead with the back of the same hand. “I-I don’t know what you’re trying to achieve.”

“Seriously? Because I’m not sure I can make it any more obvious,” she shook her head as she approached him.

Bruce instinctively backed up a step. Darcy almost felt bad for trapping him like this, but it wasn’t as if she was making him do anything he didn’t want to. They liked each other, she knew it wasn’t all one-sided. A woman could tell when it came to these things. Bruce had issues, that she got, but that shouldn’t stop him from living at all. 

“Look, you can keep on playing at the scared virgin bit, but I’m not buying it, Brucey,” she told him, hopping up to sit on the bench where he had been working moments before. “I get that you think the whole Other Guy thing is a big deal-”

“It is a big deal,” he told her very seriously.

“Yeah, sure, I know,” she nodded in agreement. “But why should that stop us spending some quality time together outside of the ivory tower?” she asked straight out. “I mean, c’mon, Doc, what is the deal? For a while there I thought you were afraid of little ol’ me, which was pretty crazy, and a power trip that was kind of a turn on actually,” she smiled salaciously, her tongue running over her lip. “But your fear isn’t about me, it’s about you. And I get it. I mean, seriously, I pretty much turn into a rage monster around once a month, but that’s not so literal as you getting your Hulk on,” she explained. “What I’m trying to say is this, I don’t want you to be afraid of being you, because I’m not afraid of you,” she said definitely, her hand covering his on the workbench.

“I still maintain that you should be,” he told her, and yet resisted the urge to pull his hand away from her light grip. “But apparently you’re even more stubborn than you are beautiful.”

Darcy’s eyes widened to comical proportions at the unexpected compliment. It was the last thing she had been expecting him to say and it showed all over her face.

“Come on, Darcy. You know how you look,” he told her, trying hard not to blush as she stared at him. “I didn’t just tell you anything you don’t already know.”

“Maybe,” she smirked. “But it’s always nice to hear.”

“Well, I meant it,” he assured her. “Since you seem determined you’re not giving up on the idea of you and I being friends, then I guess it’s pointless to fight against it.”

“Friends?” she echoed. “You think that’s what I’m going for?”

“Might be all you can ever have with me,” he warned her. “You’re a wonderful woman, Darcy Lewis, and I appreciate you making an effort with me. I am a loner, I know that, but we both also know I have reasons. It’s great that you’re not afraid of me, because I know most people would be, should be, even. I guess I have enough of a handle on my condition that we could spend a little time together outside of this place,” he relented at last.

“Wow,” Darcy gasped. “I mean, yeah. I didn’t expect this to be quite so easy all of a sudden.”

“Everybody reaches a point where they realise surrender is the only option,” he shrugged, matching her smirk with one of his own.

She laughed like a bell at his words.

“Kind of impressive, huh? One of very few women in the world that can make an Avenger surrender,” she said proudly.

Then it was Bruce’s turn to laugh.

“I’m agreeing to one dinner, Darcy. Nothing else,” he reminded her. “You busy tonight?”

“Well, I’d have to check my calendar,” she dead-panned, grinning all over again as she hopped down from the bench. “Meet me in the lobby at seven?” she suggested then.

“Sounds good,” he nodded once. “Now, can I have my team back and do some work, please?” he asked with an amused smile.

“Sure thing, Doc,” she agreed, saluting him with her key card before letting herself out of the lab.

Bruce heard her call for J.A.R.V.I.S. moments before the door slid shut behind her. Clearly the A.I. had assisted her in clearing the room so they had a chance to talk alone. Bruce hadn’t meant to fold so easily, but he was fast running out of reasons not to. Darcy was a good person, and as beautiful as he told her she was. Her sense of humour was wacky and fun, her confidence made her glow like she was on fire most of the time. There was an awful lot to like about her, Bruce just struggled to understand her fascination with him, save for the fact he was probably the toughest nut to crack out of all the team.

“I must be out of mind,” he muttered to himself, replacing his glasses on his nose and turning back to his work.

Still, the smile would not leave his lips even now, and would probably still be there when he left the lab much later to go get ready for his date. Dr Bruce Banner had a date, with an actual woman, who knew the other side of his character and still wanted to go out with him. That was kind of incredible.

* * *

“It’s amazing, seeing everybody on Earth from up here,” said Jane with a look of wonder on her face as she and Thor headed back along the Bifrost to the palace, hand in hand.

She felt giddy as a kid about being here with him. Asgard was like nothing she ever could have possibly imagined. Beautiful, majestic, and amazing, kind of like Thor himself. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem so happy after their little peek into the lives of friends and associates. He was awfully distracted, his expression almost pained.

“What is it?” she asked, getting his attention. “Is it Darcy? Because I know you feel protective of her, but I promise, she is more than capable of taking care of herself. And yes, I know that Dr Banner...”

“Banner is a good man,” Thor cut in, shaking his head. “His relationship with Darcy does not concern me. She understands into which arena she steps by persuing a romantic relationship with the doctor. He would not harm her by design, nor would he ever allow himself to do so against his will. He is too intelligent and careful a man for that,” he explained of his friend Bruce. “No, my concern lies with another, with the Captain of America, and Miss Mary-Kate.”

“Oh,” said Jane, feeling surprised. “Well, he’s just being kind to her, I guess. Even if it’s more than that, would it be so bad? He’s lonely, she’s lonely, and yes, bringing up another man’s child wouldn’t be easy, but some men do it. I think it’d be a very noble thing, actually.”

“Rogers is a noble man, indeed,” Thor agreed, stopping walking and facing a startled Jane. “I trust in his judgement of the situation. If he would court this woman and assist her in raising her child, I should not want to prevent his cause, but... but the baby, the one we named for the son of Coul, you do not yet know the truth of his father.”

Jane frowned a little and shook her head. What Thor said was true. She didn’t know who Phil’s father was and never really asked. She knew only that Mary-Kate had left her baby on the Avengers doorstep in the hopes to have him looked after by the greatest protectors the Earth had ever known. Now it seemed there was another secret to be privy to, and she wanted to know what it was.

“Thor?” she prompted him to go on, even as he looked away.

“I do not know my duty as I always did before,” he lamented. “To keep this secret is what we in the Avengers swore to do, and yet... and yet I feel that my father and mother have a right to know all. That the baby we call Phil is not just the son of a mortal woman of Earth, but also of my adopted brother, Loki.”

If anyone had asked, Jane would’ve vowed to be the most shocked person in the universe when that news met her ears, and yet another was more likely to have earnt the title.

In his cell, spying and listening in on all that was said and done on the bridge, Loki lost concentration immediately his name was spoken, the magical connection severed in an instant.

“A son?” he whispered to himself in the darkness, the shock eventually subsiding.

Slowly, he smiled an evil smile.


	3. Chapter 3

Darcy Lewis had been dead-set on getting a dinner date with Bruce Banner and yet now she had it, she felt a little wary. He didn’t scare her, never had, even though she knew exactly that the other side of his character consisted of. This was a more basic kind of nerves, the butterflies every woman gets when she’s headed out on a first date.

It wasn’t like Darcy never dated before. She’d gone out with guys, and she’d stayed in with guys too. This was different, because this was kind of serious. First dates were usually a throwaway thing. If you didn’t get along or just didn’t feel all that you expected to, you could call it a day and never see each other again. With Bruce, Darcy was pretty much committed to living in the same building with him no matter how things went. After all her efforts, she really didn’t want it to go badly and couldn’t imagine it would. The problem was what he said to her in the lab today, about only wanting to get a date with him because it was a challenge, that and the fact he was really the only male available to her amongst the Avengers. Tony, Thor, and even Clint were all spoken for, and it was clear to everyone with eyes that Steve had a thing for Mary-Kate. So much for thinking the Captain would need a sledgehammer to awaken his frozen libido. Darcy liked him well enough, but not so much she wanted to take a crack.   
It was Bruce that intrigued her from the get go, and now she was finally getting a real chance with him.

“Gotta be your ultimate charming self, Lewis,” she told her reflection in the bathroom mirror as she applied a layer of gloss to her lips.

Messing with her hair a minute, she half considered putting it up and then let go and allowed it to fall loose around her shoulders again. Now was not the time to start being something she wasn’t. Bruce had to like her for being her, nobody else, and she was pretty sure he already did. He was way more scared of himself than of Darcy, she saw that now. The challenge was going to be convincing him that nothing bad was going to happen if they had a little fun.

“Or a lot of fun,” she considered aloud with a wicked smirk on her lips.

Shaking her head, Darcy picked up her purse and headed out. The elevator took her down to the ground floor and when the doors opened out into the foyer she found her date already waiting for her. Not that he wasn’t always good-looking, but dressed up date-smart in a charcoal suit and a shirt in the perfect shade of purple, Bruce looked completely edible to Darcy.

“Wow,” she said as she walked towards him. “Lookin’ good, Doc.”

“Guys aren’t really required to look all that great for dates,” he shrugged awkwardly. “You can only do so much with shirts and pants.”

Darcy bit her lip so no comment about taking those clothes off him slipped out. As much as it might be true, she had to dial back the dirty just a little bit, at least for now. Bruce had agreed to dinner after a lot of persuasion. No use pushing too hard and ruining what could be a perfectly nice, borderline platonic evening.

“On the other hand, you look stunning,” he told her suddenly, making Darcy almost physically reel backwards.

“Uh, thanks,” she told him, finding a smile the moment she recovered from the shock. “Wow, that was... like a really big compliment,” she stammered.

“I do know how to talk to women, Darcy,” he told her, resisting the eyeroll but only just. “I’ll admit, when they’re wearing lab coats and we’re working, I barely notice male from female, but I did used to date once upon a time.”

“Okay, first off, you’re not old enough to have a once upon a time yet,” she told him definitely, looping her arm through his and they headed for the doors. “And second, for all the time that may have passed by, you’re not at all rusty on the dating thing, at least not so far.”

“Thank you,” he replied with a smile as they headed out into the night.

So far, so good.

* * *

Steve hadn’t seen Tony for a while. The guy known the world over as Iron Man was usually the life and soul of the party, or the meeting, pretty much anywhere that he was. When they first met, Steve had to admit, he didn’t much care for the self-proclaimed genius, billionaire, philanthropist playboy, but a great respect fast became apparent between two men who fought in battle together, who risked their lives to save others. Living together in Stark Tower, that had fast become the Avengers new home, there was more than a little camaraderie between the so-called heroes. There was friendship, and when a certain friend was not seen for a while, another friend was bound to find that strange and feel concerned.

Pepper had explained that things were afoot. Tony was acting strangely, so she said, and Steve wasn’t the type to lighten the mood with a joke about strange being normal for a guy like Stark, not when Pepper looked so genuinely concerned. It hadn’t happened immediately, but then what they now called P.T.S.D. rarely showed itself instantly, Steve knew that from the war decades before. With other things to focus on - his new relationship, baby Phil, and so forth - Tony had coped okay. Now he had a little too much free time to think, and nothing to tire him out enough so that he slept through the night. He was worrying, freaking out after all he had seen and been through. If anyone could help him, Pepper said, it was probably Steve. The weight on the Captain’s shoulders felt heavy as he trudged down the steps to Tony’s workshop. It was no real surprise to find one of the toughened glass panels shattered. Weapons testing or similar would cause that too easily.

Tony was muttering, talking in a low voice when Steve first set foot into the room through the missing glass that made the security panel door pointless. It seemed like he might have been speaking to J.A.R.V.I.S. or maybe on the phone via one of those headset thingies that Steve didn’t quite understand even now.

“It’s not enough. It’s not good enough!” said Tony then, loudly and with such frustration, before he threw whatever was in his hand forcefully across the room.

It clattered against the opposite wall, a crumpled piece of metal no doubt the result of being crushed in the gloved hand of Iron Man. Steve looked from the projectile to Tony who was crouched on the ground, half in and half out of the full suit, seemingly broken in some way, and by that Steve meant the man rather than the armour.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” he said awkwardly, wary of startling a fragile person, but not seeing any real choice in the matter.

There was a moment when it seemed like Tony might not even have heard him at all, and then just when Steve was about to say something more, he reacted.

“Captain. Always a pleasure,” Tony greeted him with a smile like plastic as he turned around, and continued walking right by to the work bench on the other side of the workshop.

“Nice to see you too, Stark,” he sighed. “I thought maybe, if you needed some help...”

“You suddenly become an expert in robotics overnight? Good with an arc welder? Able to leap mathematical equations in a single bound?” he teased him in none too friendly a way, eyes focused on the components in his hands, and yet at the same time not focused at all.

“Tony, come on,” Steve urged him. “You can be a brat all you want, you’re not bothering me, but this is affecting Pepper, and that’s not fair,” he told him firmly.

Tony’s blood-shot eyes came up from what he was or wasn’t concentrating on, staring at Steve as if he were trying to put a hole through him with sheer force of will alone.

“Not fair?” he echoed. “Life’s not fair, Cap. You think it was fair when aliens came out of the skies to attack the Earth? You think it was fair that innocent people died? Fair that a baby is growing up underneath this roof with no clue what his own father brought down on top of New York?!”

His voice rose in volume and hysteria as he continued on. Steve felt as if he were watching a man that usually seemed like the craziest kind of together just unravel to a mass of unbridled panic and open wounds in a second. Steve had seen people literally blown to pieces and it hadn’t seemed this bloody.

“You think I don’t understand the horrors of war, Stark? If you think that then you really don’t know anything about me at all. What we went through, what all the people of New York went through, it was too much,” he shook his head. “I thought that was true of the last war I fought in, it was true, but at least we were fighting an enemy we had some understanding of. They were monsters but born of men. What rained down here last year was unprecedented, unfathomable,” he agreed, moving slowly forward towards his team-mate and friend. “What we did was the right thing, but it doesn’t mean we can make our peace with it so easily. I watched you fly up into that portal, Tony, with a missile at your back. I have seen bravery in my life, and that was the some of the greatest of it. You could’ve died, been lost in space, a hundred outcomes that I’m not sure I even fully understand myself, but you do. You see all that did happen, and worse, all that could have happened, behind your eyes every time you try to sleep.”

It wasn’t a question but a statement. Steve understood just exactly what Tony was going through, because it was the same for him. Soldiers fought because they had to, because it was the right thing to do, but that didn’t mean there weren’t consequences for them as well as the enemy. The things that happened inside your own head could be that much worse than anything physically done or seen.

“Every time,” Tony agreed, slowly nodding his head. “Every time.”

“I know,” said Steve, patting him on the shoulder. “But this isn’t the way to deal with it. You could build the greatest weapons in the world, the toughest metal for protection,” he explained, free hand running over the components spread on the bench beside them. “It won’t be enough. You can’t save everybody all of the time. Believe me, I tried,” he smiled slightly, knowing it was as dumb a dream when he had it as now when Tony was reaching for that impossible goal.

“I know,” Tony sighed. “I know, it’s crazy, I’m being crazy, but... but I can’t get out of my own head,” he said, gesturing with his hands, trying to explain what he meant and finding it impossible. “I want to talk to Pepper about it, I do, but I don’t know where to start,” he admitted.

Steve didn’t think he would ever see Tony look quite like this. He had found him flat on his back in the middle of a rubble filled street, armour battered, face bruised, pain in his eyes, but not until this moment had Steve ever seen Tony look truly defeated.

“I’m not saying I can help or make it easier,” he shook his head. “But I do know holing up in a corner like this, it won’t fix anything.”

Nodding slowly, Tony took in a breath and let it out. He really did not know where to go from here, but repeating the same things over and over and hoping for different results was the very definition of madness. He couldn’t keep going like this, for Pepper’s sake as much as his own. The star-spangled man was right on that at least.

“You come down here just to tell me it’s okay for boys to cry?” he asked then, sounding more like his old self and making Steve smile slightly.

“Not really,” he admitted as they both moved to take a seat on the couch in the corner. “I, er... I just wanted to check in with you, about Mary-Kate. You’re not planning on having her leave any time soon, right?”

“She can stay as long as she wants,” Stark shrugged easily. “The little guy needs protectors, she does too, I guess. I don’t know if Reindeer Games ever plans to come looking for them. I doubt the grand high keepers of Asgardian jail want him out and world-jumping any time soon, but those two have a place here as long as they want it.”

“That’s good,” Steve nodded. “It wouldn’t hurt if you told Mary-Kate that. She seems concerned that at any minute she might be thrown out onto the street or something, and that’s not really fair.”

Tony watched Steve as he talked of the pretty red-head and her son. His head tilted as he assessed the body language and tone of voice his team-mate used, and then he smiled.

“Wow. The ice really has thawed, huh?” he said then, smile turning into a wicked smirk that only grew when Steve glared at him. “C’mon, Cap, it’s not like it’s a crime. She’s a good looking woman, needs a big burly stand-up guy in her life,” he considered, leaning comfortably into the couch cushions with his arms along the back. “What are we thinking? June wedding?”

“You’re ridiculous,” said Steve crossly, and yet the blush rising in his cheeks probably gave him away, which would explain the way Tony laughed long and loud then.

Maybe he was just being hysterical, but Steve couldn’t quite believe it.

* * *

“I am sorry about this,” said Bruce as he rushed out of the elevator, Darcy hurrying on his heels.

“Hey, it’s fine. Who doesn’t want to end their date in a lab,” she said, sounding less than thrilled even at her own joke.

“I did tell you that you could go home and not come with me,” her date reminded her with a slight smile of amusement

“And I told you that the date’s not over ‘til we get back to my place,” she smiled right back, then noting the panic in his eyes she added. “To drop me off at my door. Geez, you’re not that lucky,” she smiled in spite of the supposed insult.

Bruce laughed too, out of relief more than anything else. He had a feeling that when Darcy wanted something she went after it and got it. If she wanted this date to end very definitely inside of her apartment, she would’ve tried to make it happen. As great as she was, as easily as she had started to wear down his resistance recently, it did bother Bruce what she could get him to do against his own better judgement. At least now the magic of the date had been broken some by the alarm going off on his phone.

They were almost back to the tower when the beeping began. Immediately he started to hurry, knowing something was wrong at the lab, with his specific work that the other members of his team were not completely privvy to. It was a minor alarm, nothing that would cause the tower to explode or anything, but it still required his attention.

Darcy didn’t mind too much that they had to rush instead of completing a leisurely stroll back home. They had a nice night, a decent meal in a little hole in the wall restaurant a couple of blocks away. Somehow when Bruce talked science it wasn’t half so confusing or boring as when Jane rattled on and on. They talked about other stuff too, music and movies. Bruce was into the classics, which Darcy had expected given he was older, but that was okay because she had an appreciation for that stuff too. They talked about the team too, about the Captain and Phil’s mother, about Tony’s weird behaviour and Pepper’s worries. They got along like the best of friends, but Darcy wasn’t so stupid that she didn’t notice the way Bruce looked at her sometimes. She was looking at him that way too, she couldn’t help it. He was such a nice guy, and ridiculously hot for a lab coat type. She had at least hoped to end this date with a goodnight kiss or something, and when the alarm went off on Bruce’s phone she almost lost hope, wo  
ndering if maybe he set it up on purpose to get away from her. Well she wasn’t giving up that easy, not now.

“Huh,” he said as he checked readings and settings on various machines. “Well, that’s a little strange. Everything seems fine,” he considered.

“Doc, tell me this is not some fancy trick to get out of our date early?” said Darcy giving him a significant look. “A woman could get a complex.”

“Darcy, if I really didn’t want to be on this date, I would at least have the decency to tell you,” he promised, trying not to flinch when she moved into his personal space. “But I think now would be a good time to take you home.”

“Probably,” she agreed, hand landing on his on the workbench. “But I was kind of hoping that if this was a real date and we both had such a good time, we were going to end it how a proper date should end.”

Swallowing hard, Bruce tried to lean back away from her but found too many things in the way to go far. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to kiss her. Bruce wasn’t blind to how beautiful Darcy was, how charming, funny and intelligent. He did like her, probably more than he should, and tonight really had been a lot more fun than even he expected. The problem wasn’t her, it was him. It was always him.

“Darcy,” he said shaking his head slightly. “I’m not sure this is a good idea.”

“Hey, it’s anger you’ve got issues with, right?” she shrugged easily. “I’m not planning on making you mad so...”

“Anger is just one in a string of emotions that are all much more closely linked than you’d expect,” he told her too softly, his resistance crumbling the closer her face got to his own.

“You wanna gamble on the fact it’s not worth the risk?” she asked, so close now that her features were going out of focus before Bruce’s eyes.

“No,” he admitted at the last right before their lips met.

Darcy didn’t want to hold back from this but to her credit she did try. Maybe it was her only shot which made her want to throw herself into the moment, but spooking Bruce when they were just getting somewhere would certainly be bad. She wasn’t so dumb as to not take heed of what he said about strong emotions being closely entwined. Even he seemed to have only a vague idea of how green he might go if and when he got excited by anything. It was unlikely he ever dared to risk an experiment of this kind before. Darcy was willing to push the envelope just a little, especially when she felt Bruce’s arms wrap around her back and pull her closer. They were lost in a moment neither wanted to get out of, her fingers messing up his hair, their bodies pressed together tightly. Just when things might’ve gone a little too far, an alarm went off, loud enough to deafen people a mile away, or so Darcy thought as she was forced to let go of Bruce and cover her own ears.

Immediately he got his bearings, he rushed to switch off the flashing lights and blaring sirens, the needles on a couple of machines spiking terribly, Darcy noticed. It took just a minute before everything was calm again. Bruce looked at Darcy and she looked back at him as her hands came away from her ears.

“Wow. Um, did we do that?” she asked, feeling more than a little dazed.

“I don’t think so,” said Bruce slowly as he turned to check. “Not that I doubt we created a power surge, but these readings are for outside of the building...”

“So what the hell just happened?” asked Darcy worriedly.

Bruce would have told her, if he had any idea at all!


	4. Chapter 4

Bruce told Darcy at least three times that she should go back to her room. She ignored him on every attempt, and it really wasn’t about that kiss they shared anymore. Well, maybe it was a little bit, but more than that she wanted to know what was going on, what all the alarms going off in the lab had been about. He looked worried, and Bruce being worried about anything couldn’t be good. He was also being pretty stingy with the facts right now, and Darcy didn’t like being kept in the dark. This much she told him in no uncertain terms.

“If I had facts to tell you, Darcy, then I would,” he assured her, moving by her in one direction and then the other, correlating data on actual paper with that on the glass-like screens that lit up all around.

“But something is happening,” she said definitely. “Energy spikes, outside this building.”

“Not directly outside of it, necessarily,” Bruce clarified, eyes still focused on figures and charts that meant nothing to Darcy. “Within the radius of the sensors, but we’re monitoring some pretty big areas...”

His voice trailed away and Darcy paid all the more attention when that happened. Bruce pulled off his glasses, looking very dramatic. Darcy swallowed hard.

“Bruce...?” she began, but he shook his head.

“I have to talk to Tony,” he said, headed for the door.

Darcy gave chase.

“You can’t!” she insisted. “Or I mean, I guess you can, but... Well, Pepper said he hasn’t been himself lately. Acting weird, kinda out of it and... I don’t know, I think she’s pretty worried about him. I’m just thinking if you’re gonna tell him something bad, something big happening...”

“Maybe I could run it past Pepper first?” he guessed. “Darcy, I’m all for protecting people’s feelings, but this could be serious. Very serious,” he said definitely, the look in his eyes proving he wasn’t screwing around, not even a little bit.

Darcy didn’t really think he was the type to make a mountain out of a molehill. Of all people, Bruce believed in keeping calm come what may. In his case it was sort of essential for the survival of the many. This thing, whatever it was, making needles spike and alarms sound, it was really very serious.

“So, it’s bad,” she said, a statement not a question. “Like saddle up and bring your guns bad?” she checked.

He looked pained for a moment, like an inner battle was being fought inside him. Darcy kind of hoped it wasn’t between the good doctor and The Other Guy. Mostly she figured it was just Bruce trying to decide if she could handle the truth. He ought to know by now that she could and nearly told him so when suddenly he spoke up anyway.

“Like Battle of New York bad,” he said soberly. “If these readings are what I think they are, somebody or something is trying to punch a hole into our world. That last energy spike? I think that was the final effort that opened the door.”

“Loki?” she checked, trying to keep the shake out of her voice and failing badly.

“Maybe,” Bruce nodded once. “It might not be. It could just as easily be Thor returning to Earth,” he considered. “But until we know for sure...”

“All eyes on the horizon, all soldiers on high alert,” said Darcy with a half-smile.

It sounded like a joke, and she had hoped to lighten the mood, but that was tough when they were talking about the potential next phase in an intergalactic war. So much for their date tonight, a nice dinner and a toe-curling kiss goodnight. Now Darcy had to wonder if it would be the only one she ever got with Bruce, not because he backed out and wouldn’t agree to another, but because the world might be blown to hell before she got another chance.

“I really have to get this information to the others,” he said, turning away.

Bruce wasn’t ready for Darcy to rush at him. She grabbed his arm with both hands and turned him around, crushing her lips against his own. He was startled to say the least, and she took advantage of that just as much as she could. If this was all she was ever going to get, Darcy was going to make damn sure she made the best of it. A thrill ran through her when Bruce pulled her closer and returned her kiss. It was enough to make her head spin and for his papers to flutter to the ground, but it still had to end somewhere. Eventually it was with both of them gasping for air.

“Well, whatever happens from here on out, at least I know for sure you’re not going to forget tonight,” said Darcy definitely, a smile on her face that she couldn’t help at all.

“There was never any doubt in my mind about that,” said Bruce, retrieving his fallen paperwork and running a hand back through his hair that he knew she had completely messed up. “I did have fun tonight, Darcy. Thank you,” he told her then with a genuine smile. “I’m sorry about...” he gestured with the papers in his hand and then he was hurrying out of the lab and away to the elevator.

Darcy leaned back against the workbench and got her bearings. The smile stayed on her lips for a few moments more and then started to slip away as she thought of what Bruce had said. Maybe Thor just got home, but he didn’t look convinced about that. More likely Loki was trying to gain access to their world again, or maybe something else that was just as evil. It freaked her out to think about it, a fight like that which all her new friends would have to participate in, Bruce included. Times like this, Darcy felt very small and kind of useless.

“You come down here again, asshole, you’re just gonna get your attitude handed to you a second time,” she said anyway, as if Loki might actually hear.

Maybe he could. He had all those weird powers where he could walk through secret doors between worlds and everything. Darcy felt an involuntary shudder run through her and it soon set her in motion. Screw sitting around and waiting to see what happened. She was going to be in on this meeting between Bruce and Tony, and whoever else they invited to the party. Maybe she couldn’t help at all, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to try.

* * *

“You sure you’re okay?” Steve asked as Tony stepped out of the elevator.

They had spent a couple of hours in the workshop, sharing a couple of beers and talking about a lot of things that didn’t really matter, and a few things that did, the way guys were prone to. From here on out, Tony needed to face Pepper and let her know where his head was at. Hiding from her wasn’t helping anybody, in fact it was only hurting her, the one person he never wanted to cause pain or anguish.

“Okay?” he echoed, looking back at Steve as he held the button on the elevator to keep the doors open a while yet. “Are you kidding? I’m Tony frickin’ Stark,” he smirked, and yet the tired pain in his eyes remained.

“The one and only, thank God,” his friend said with a hint of a smile. “You’ll be fine.”

“Sure, absolutely fine,” he nodded. “I mean, if you can live ninety years in ice, wake up, and ask out a beautiful red-head with a baby that could use an upstanding father-figure like you, I can tell a woman I need her to stop me becoming a head-case, right?”

Steve wasn’t sure that was the deal they had made, or one he really wanted to accept. Tony needed to figure things out with Pepper no matter what, let her help him as she so desperately wanted and needed to. What happened with Steve and Mary-Kate was a completely separate situation. This wasn’t a challenge or a competition, and yet that was what Stark was making it. Steve knew he should be mad about that, about having what might yet prove to be an important step in his life’s journey trivialised in some way, and yet that didn’t seem to be what Tony was trying to do. It was a big leap into the unknown for both of them. Tony and Steve were in situations that involved putting themselves out there, not in a special suit for the sake of heroism and valour, but putting their hearts on the line, showing their feelings. Exposing soft underbelly to somebody else, no matter how kind and understanding, that was almost scarier than facing a war, terrorists, an alien invasion.

Tony slapped his team-mate on the back and headed off down the hallway. Steve let the elevator doors close and selected the correct floor for Mary-Kate’s apartment. Staring at the numbers climbing, he tried to remind himself he needed to breathe. All that he had faced in his life, war in all its forms, as well as technological advancements and changes to his own body that were enough to scare the average person. The world had become a whole new place whilst Steve slept soundly beneath too many feet of ice to calculate, and he survived it all. Somehow, facing Mary-Kate now, preparing to make some kind of overture to her, it was more frightening than anything that had come before.

Steve knew he liked the woman. She was beautiful as any person he had ever seen, a timeless kind of beauty. He could well imagine her having existed just as she was so many years ago when he was last walking in the world. Mary-Kate was also nice to talk to, kind and sweet, all qualities that Steve thought a woman should have. She had spirit too, even though it may have been somewhat broken by recent events. Perhaps she had made a mistake in sleeping with Loki and another in abandoning her child, but those errors in judgement were her greatest regrets. She loved Baby Phil, that much was clear to anyone with eyes. She would yet be a wonderful mother, of that Steve was certain, and without question he wanted to help and support Mary-Kate in any way he could. Tony saw the situation in its basest form and had actively encouraged Steve in asking Mary-Kate out on a date. He protested at first, but the more he thought on it, the more it didn’t seem all that crazy. Certainly if he was going to do it, it ought to be no  
w before he lost his nerve entirely.

The hour was late and Steve reconsidered things the moment the elevator doors opened. Phil would be sleeping, possibly Mary-Kate would too, now was really not the time to go knocking on her door. Steve put up his hand to the elevator button, only to lower it again the moment he realised the very woman on his mind was right in front of him.

“Steve, hi,” she greeted him with a warm smile, adjusting her slumbering infant in her arms. “Um, is something wrong?” she checked.

“No. No, everything’s fine,” he said softly, mindful of disturbing Phil. “Are you...?”

“I was just walking around the halls some,” she explained. “Phil was restless and I need to get him to sleep. As long as we’re in the apartment he kept finding toys and stuff to play with so I started pacing the halls, singing him lullabies until finally he dropped off,” she whispered with a pretty smile that Steve found so very infectious. “I should get him to his bed.”

“I’ll get the door,” said Steve, quickly hurrying to do just that.

Mary-Kate was grateful for the assistance and held her baby close in her arms as she slipped by Steve into the apartment. He followed without an invitation needed, watching as Mary-Kate went through to the bedroom and laid Phil down carefully. She pulled the covers up around him and laid a feather-light kiss on his head.

When she returned to the living room, Steve wasn’t sure what to say or do for the best.

“I’m sorry,” he blurted out eventually, moderating his volume the moment he realised he might’ve been a little too loud. “Um, I should go, leave you in peace.”

“You could stay,” said Mary-Kate the moment he turned away. “I’d like you to,” she admitted coyly.

Steve turned back and felt better when he realised she was blushing. If she was feeling as embarrassed about craving his company as he was about wanting hers, maybe he wasn’t quite as foolish as he thought. It wasn’t impossible to think maybe Mary-Kate liked him too. They had been alone together before and had a great deal of good conversation over the past couple of weeks. Of course that didn’t mean she saw him as more than a friend or even a protector and hero. Steve wished he knew for sure.

“I have that book I was telling you about,” she smiled, moving past him to the shelf and picking it up. “I hope you like it. It’s one of my favourites, but obviously that doesn’t mean you’ll think it’s so great, I just... Well, if you wanted to give it a try,” she rambled some as she handed the book to Steve.

“Thank you,” he nodded, recalling the title as one she had told him about a couple of days ago and recommended to him.

Their fingers touched on the spine of the book, making them both look up fast, eyes locking gazes. Mary-Kate bit her lip and then retracted her hand.

“Um, did you...? Can I get you a drink?” she asked, backing up a step.

Steve reached out to her, grabbing her hand so she couldn’t run away.

“Mary-Kate, I’m not... I’m not good at this,” he admitted. “I was never really any use with women the first time around and since I came back... Everything is very different to how I remember.”

“I know,” she nodded, remembering all that he had told her about the changes the world had gone through since he was gone. “But for what it’s worth, I think you’re doing just fine,” she smiled, letting her fingers entwine with his own.

Steve knew he was blushing but he pressed on in any case.

“You know I... I enjoy coming here to see you, to talk to you. I know you might think I’m just checking in on Phil or doing my duty or something. Part of it is that, I admit, but you are... You’re special, Mary-Kate. I was wondering, if maybe - and you can say no - but if you wanted to, we could...?”

“We could have dinner here?” she suggested, hoping she was helping rather than stepping on his toes. “That is, I’d like to have you come here some time for dinner, which I would cook for us. I like to cook,” she smiled. “Besides, as much as we could go out, I think I’d rather stay in for Phil,” she explained.

Steve let out a breath he hardly knew he was holding and then nodded his head, a smile spreading across his lips.

“That sounds nice,” he agreed easily.

No sooner was the agreement made than J.A.R.V.I.S. interrupted the sweet exchange.

“I’m terribly sorry, Captain, Miss Mary-Kate,” he apologised. “But an urgent meeting has been called in the conference room. Mr Rogers is asked to attend.”

“On my way, J.A.R.V.I.S.” said Steve dutifully, his hand finally slipping from Mary-Kate’s own. “Don’t worry,” he told her when she looked scared. “It’s probably nothing that affects you,” he smiled.

She nodded that she understood, though her heart was beating very fast in her chest. At first it had been at the idea of a date with Steve, but now it was a less pleasant sensation. If trouble was coming, Mary-Kate couldn’t help thinking it might have something to do with her, or moreover with baby Phil. She turned to look into the bedroom, her son sleeping soundly in his crib. Her eyes flew back to the door when she heard it click shut behind Steve. Whatever happened, she was safe here, Mary-Kate was sure on that.

“Nothing bad can happen to us here,” she said to herself.

All she had to do now was completely believe it.

* * *

“You really think this could mean Loki trying to get back into our world?” asked Pepper, looking at the print outs Bruce had laid across the conference table before her and Tony.

“The doc has solid reasons for saying it,” her boyfriend agreed, nodding his head, running a shaky hand back through his hair.

He took heed of what Rogers told him, decided he was going to talk things through with Pepper. Tony had barely begun when Bruce came knocking on the door, an urgent tone to his voice and look in his eyes that let Stark know things were not all good. If Loki was coming back, armed or not, that certainly meant trouble.

“It’s not definitely him,” said Bruce, shaking his head. “Thor has been in Asgard lately, maybe he came back a different way to usual, causing a similar rift and energy spike.”

“Maybe,” said Pepper thoughtfully. “But do we really believe that?”

Nobody was buying that there was a rational explanation. They would love to, but preparing for the worst case scenario seemed like a better option than sitting back on their heels and ignoring a potential threat. If nothing else, every member of the Avengers had learnt never to underestimate the enemy, especially when he came from outer space.

“If it is time to reassemble...” said Tony thoughtfully. “Maybe somebody wants to call back the spy team?” he suggested, looking to Pepper.

He had already asked J.A.R.V.I.S. to put a call out to Steve. It didn’t seem fair when he was probably mid-way through asking Mary-Kate out at last. That said, it was highly unlikely he had followed through on that, Tony considered. Besides, some things were more important than dating, and there was a sentence Tony Stark never thought he would seriously have in his head.

“What’s going on?” asked Steve as he came in the door with a familiar female on his heels. “Darcy said Loki was on his way back here?”

“He might be,” Bruce corrected. “We don’t know yet. Do we have any way of contacting Thor on Asgard?” he asked Tony then, who shook his head.

“I’m good, doc, but even I haven’t invented the cell phone that works from here to the so-called demi-god’s home world. No, we’re without Point Break on this one. A man down but with all the facts going in. If Loki is coming, at least we got a heads up. If it’s someone or something else, we’ll still have our guard up before they throw the first punch,” he considered.

It was a good thing that they had the advantage in some small way. Still, not a person stood around the conference room was comfortable knowing they might have to do this again, take on Loki and whatever trouble he decided to rain down on the Earth. It was too soon and too much.

Steve worried that Tony couldn’t handle it, that the team just wasn’t prepared for Round Two yet. More than that, he felt concern for Mary-Kate. Loki could be headed back here looking for his son. God only knew how he would have found out about Phil, but Steve wouldn’t be shocked if he had done it somehow. After vowing to keep Mary-Kate and her baby boy safe, it felt like a very large weight on the shoulders of the Captain, and the Avengers as a whole, but they must bear it as best they could. There was no way they could give Loki even an inch, they had to fight.


	5. Chapter 5

They had jumped in the jet and headed home the moment they got the call. Nobody could ever accuse Agents Natasha Romanov and Clint Barton of shirking their duties. After all that had happened with baby Phil, Stark had suggested they take a little time. Agents of SHIELD rarely got a break but being the only two non-super-powered beings, having gone through so much, both Pepper and Tony had agreed Nat and Clint should take some time. Something sure was different about the two agents when they walked into the conference room in the morning, barely twelve hours since Dr Banner stood there telling the others that Loki might be on his way back. Nobody mentioned the shift in their demeanours but it was there, however subtle.

“This guy needs to learn that when you’re dead, lie down,” said Natasha sharply, all her nerve endings twitching at the very thought of Asgard’s adopted prince.

Any enemy of this world was likely to get a reaction out of Romanov, but this was personal. Loki had controlled Clint, turned him into one of his minions. He talked of having Barton kill her, intimately and in every way she feared. The terror and panic in her looks were supposed to be faked, but it had been too easy to present the reaction she showed to Loki. Nat had been as close to scared as she ever wanted to feel. Losing Clint would break her that much faster than losing anybody else. This she had finally confessed on their trip away, and so their relationship became something new. That wasn’t for public consumption right now, if ever. The task at hand came first, it was the mission that mattered most. Still, her eyes strayed to Clint and they shared a look of definite concern.

“We’re ready for him this time,” he said firmly.

“As ready as we can be,” agreed Tony. “But that’s not much. Banner is running the figures, pinpointing a location as best he can, but God knows how far Loki could’ve moved since last night.”

“If it is Loki,” said Steve, arms folded over his chest, looking every inch the hero as he strolled in through the door.

“You've got other ideas, Captain?” asked Natasha curiously.

“Banner did say the disturbance wasn’t necessarily Loki. It could be Thor or even some other being entirely. Might even be a false alarm,” he explained. “Of course we have to try to be prepared for whatever is coming...”

“Easier said,” Clint sighed. “What came down last time...”

“I doubt it’d be that bad again” said Pepper, and then off the looks she received from the team she felt less certain. “It’s not likely, right?”

Nobody could offer an answer, mostly because they just didn’t know what response to give. This new threat could potentially be the same as the old one or it could just as easily be more or less bad. Preparation was the key, and yet preparing for the unknown never came easy.

“I don’t leave things to chance,” said Nat, shaking her head. “I’m going down to the lab, see how Banner is coming with the figures,” she said, heading for the door.

Clint flinched with the urge to follow but managed to resist it. As much as he wanted to keep her safe, and knew she felt the same about him, he and Nat couldn’t be joined at the hip. They had been that close this past week or more on their 'vacation' trip, but that was a tale he wasn’t telling to the team, not now, maybe not ever.

“Er, if Loki is headed back here, you think it’s for the kid?” he checked with the others.

“Wouldn’t be crazy to think the guy wants to meet Junior,” Stark agreed. “As much as it puts a nasty taste in everybody’s mouth, he is Phil’s father,” he said, eyes shifting to look at Steve who visibly bristled.

It wasn’t pleasant for him to think about Loki and Mary-Kate getting familiar, but they all knew it had happened. Baby Phil wouldn’t be here if they hadn’t done the nasty, which didn’t exactly make her the pure and perfect type of woman that Tony assumed Steve would want to go for. So much for those old-fashioned values, it seemed Captain America had entered the modern world in some ways at least. Stark might be proud of his team-mate if he had time to think about it. Right now, they all had to concentrate on the threat at hand.

“Okay, so let’s assume for a sec that we’ve got Loki-shaped incoming,” he said, looking around the members of his team who were still present. “We gotta assume he’s coming for Phil, Mary-Kate, or both.”

“Then the first step is to secure the tower,” said Pepper definitely. “We go into lockdown.”

“I agree,” Steve nodded.

“Sounds like a plan,” agreed Clint.

“J.A.R.V.I.S.?” said Tony then, looking towards the ceiling. “Code Red. Put the tower into Lockdown, Protocol 616. That asshole can come knocking all he wants, he’s not getting in this time.”

Nobody considered for a moment that they might be too late, that the wolf might already be very much in the henhouse.

* * *

“Dr. Banner?” called Natasha as she hit the lab.

“Agent Romanov,” he greeted her with a half-smile that was genuine enough despite the situation. “Nice to see you again.”

“Under different circumstances would be better,” she replied, understandably subdued. “What do we have? A location for our visitor, I hope?”

“As close as I can get,” he agreed, flipping two or three unneeded panels from the glass screen before him.

He turned it so Nat could see more clearly and gestured to a red patch on a large map picked out in various shades of green. 

“It’s three miles across, spreading from downtown New York, out to the suburbs,” explained Bruce. “Loki or whatever else this is, it arrived in this area. Where he is now...?” he trailed off, shrugging his shoulders.

Nat stared at the screen and shook her head. This was far from ideal. She liked a little more accuracy in her work than this was giving her. A GPS target, a spot to head to, it was preferable. Three square miles was a lot of ground to cover and no doubt Loki was already on the move. Sure, the threat could be something else, but she wasn’t buying. That bastard was determined to rule the world, and though that hadn’t taken, Nat was certain he would be back for his son if he got so much as a vague idea that he existed. Nobody would be dumb enough to return to a battle ground so soon unless the reason was blood or love. A son might be both, even to a monster like Loki.

“It’s better than nothing,” she considered. “But we should move now before he gains any more ground on us.”

Nat looked properly at Bruce for maybe the first time since she came into the lab then. She frowned slightly, watching him remove his glasses and rub his tired eyes. He had probably been up all night crunching the numbers, compiling the data and cross-checking for all he was worth. Perhaps what surprised her more than how tired he looked was how he was dressed. Banner never really looked anything but smartly turned out, but this was different. He was properly dressed up, or had been until he spent all night in these clothes. There was a smart jacket hanging on the nearest chair, and a glance down showed off dress shoes. Her head tilted as she stared at him and Bruce soon noticed he was being studied like a bug under a microscope.

“What?” he asked, and slowly Nat smiled.

“Hot date last night, doctor?” she asked him. “Did Lewis finally wear you down?” she checked, finding the whole thing both cute and amusing in equal measure.

“You’re not funny,” said Bruce coldly, turning away.

Natasha wondered at that reaction. Sure, they were about to go into battle and that was about as serious as anything could get, but that didn’t mean Bruce should be so grumpy just because she called him on dating Darcy. Nat wasn’t really the type for female bonding, but the intern seemed like a decent type. Stark wouldn’t have her in the building without running a background check, and Nat certainly respected a woman who could hold her own in any form. Darcy had a Taser and an attitude, neither of which she was afraid to use. She was unphased by aliens and monsters, and that wasn’t nothing. The very fact she had the guts to stand up and say she wanted to get close to a guy like Banner was pretty amazing, this much she told the man himself.

“She likes you for you, doesn’t judge based on what you’re capable of becoming,” said Nat, highly aware of how much the same applied to herself and Clint in a lot of ways. “That’s not something to joke about, and I certainly wouldn’t.”

“I know,” Bruce sighed, bracing himself against the workbench. “I’m sorry, I don’t... I didn’t mean to imply anything, Natasha,” he promised, looking sideways at her. “It’s been a weird twenty four hours.”

“And potentially about to get weirder,” she agreed. “But this isn’t about Loki. This is about Darcy,” she said simply. “What’s on your mind, Bruce?” she asked, sounding oddly kind.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t be nice. Bruce knew that she could. He had seen Natasha fight aliens without fear or apprehension, but he had also seen the other side. She was a natural with a baby in her arms as much as she was battling the enemy. Nat had the ability to be sweet and kind, it was just that she didn’t need to turn to that side of her personality much of the time. Now she saw he could use a friend and here she was, prepared to assist. Bruce just wasn’t so sure that anybody could help in right now.

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” he admitted, shrugging his shoulders. “Darcy is... She’s amazing. She’s beautiful and intelligent, when we went out last night, it was... it was fun. I can’t deny I had a good time.”

“Sounds great,” Nat smiled at least for as long as Bruce seemed to be doing the same.

“But it’s not,” he shook his head then. “She wants... She wants more, she wants everything. Darcy has it in her head that we should be together, and it’s not as if I want to push her away, but it’s not just about me,” he said, his hand on his chest. “He’s in here too, The Other Guy, and if he got out when... I can’t stand the idea of what he’s capable of, what I’m capable of when that side takes over,” he shook his head.

“Bruce,” said Natasha, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder and getting his attention back when he tried to look away. “I know better than most what the Hulk is capable of, but more than that, I know what you are capable of. Bruce Banner, you are an exceptional scientist and a good and decent man,” she said definitely. “I know you have to be careful, I’ve seen the consequences of you losing control, but does that really mean you’re going to live forever in a cage?”

“Monsters need cages,” he said, meeting her eyes.

Nat shook her head. “But men don’t. It would be the easiest thing for people like us to say we belong alone, locked up, cut off. Trust me, I lived that way a very long time, afraid of what I was capable of, what that meant for me, but now? As much as what we think of ourselves defines us, what others think of us, what they feel for us, it can make a difference,” she said, speaking of more than just Bruce and Darcy now, and they both knew it. “People who care for us can change our lives more than we ever thought possible. If we push them away, thinking it’s for the best, that we’re saving them as well as ourselves, do you know what we really achieve?”

“Tell me.”

“Pain and loneliness, for everybody,” she told him simply. “I don’t want that for you and Darcy, Bruce, and I don’t think you do either.”

With that she turned to leave, not another word spoken, but she had left Bruce Banner with an awful lot to think about, that was for sure.

* * *

“Darcy,” said Mary-Kate with surprise when she opened the apartment door. “I wasn’t... I’m sorry, you’re probably the last person I expected to see.”

“I get it. I haven’t exactly been acting friendly since you got here,” she admitted, shifting awkwardly in place. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s okay,” the red-head told her, ushering her inside. “For what it’s worth, I do understand your reluctance to make friends. The others have told me how good you were with Phil, how well you took care of him for me. I can see how you would take offence to the mother who abandoned her baby...”

“You had your reasons,” Darcy shrugged. “And hey, you came back pretty fast. I guess that goes in your favour.”

“Thanks,” said Mary-Kate, reacting to the sound of her baby then.

She disappeared into the bedroom and soon returned with Phil in her arms. Darcy’s face lit up at the sight of the little man and he looked equally as pleased to see her, reaching out his chubby arms until his mother handed him over.

“Hey, kiddo!” said Darcy as she hugged him. “You remember me, huh?” she checked, laughing when he stuck sticky fingers all over her glasses, like he had before so many times. “Yup, you’re just as cute and troublesome as ever,” she laughed, kissing his temple.

It was strange for Mary Kate to see her child give such affection to another woman. She ought to hate it but she couldn’t. Actually it was comforting to know that Phil had someone like Darcy to be there for him when she was absent herself. Mary-Kate regretted nothing more than leaving her baby to the care of others, but at least those she chose to protect him had done just that, and loved him as well as any family ever could.

“Um, J.A.R.V.I.S. said the tower was in some kind of lockdown,” she said after a while. “Do you know why?”

“Yeah,” Darcy nodded, looking a little awkward as she allowed Phil down onto the carpet to play with his toys. “I kinda volunteered to come talk to you about that. Steve wanted to but... Well, he has other responsibilities right now,” she explained. “Seems like the guys are going to have to get their hero on again. There’s a... Well, what you might call a disturbance in the Force,” she tried, hoping Mary Kate understood what ought to be an obvious reference.

“I’m guessing that’s as serious in real life as in a galaxy far, far away?” she checked and Darcy nodded her head.

“Someone or something wants into our world and he could already be here,” she confirmed.

Mary-Kate’s face grew paler by the second.

“L-Loki?” she stammered out, swallowing hard.

“Could be,” said Darcy, eyes drifting to Phil a moment. “But the team needs you to know you are totally safe here. They’re gonna protect you and Phil, no matter what. If anybody can, they can. You know that, right?” she said, patting Mary-Kate’s hand in what she hoped was a comforting way.

“I wouldn’t have left my baby here, or come to stay myself, if I didn’t,” she replied, pushing both hands back through her hair. “I just... I wasn’t expecting it to happen so fast.”

“I guess the bad guy grapevine runs pretty hot?” suggested Darcy, not at all surprised when Mary-Kate got up from her seat and went to sit on the floor by Phil, trying to hug him even though he wanted to keep on building his blocks. “It might not even be Loki,” said Darcy then, with more hope in her voice than she really possessed. “It could just as easy be something else, or nothing at all. Not that I wanna question the doc and his sciency stuff but... Well, mistakes get made,” she shrugged, forcing a smile.

Mary-Kate looked up at her with a half a smile on her lips then, despite how serious the situation could turn out to be.

“The doctor? You mean Dr. Banner?” she checked, amused by the giddy grin that appeared on Darcy’s face. “He means a lot to you, doesn’t he?”

“I guess,” she shrugged. “Or possibly a whole barrel load of yes!” she amended with a giggle she couldn’t help.

Mary-Kate had to smile too, she couldn’t help it. Pulling Phil into her lap and helping him with the blocks, she thought not only of the potential relationship between Darcy and Dr Banner, but also between herself and another.

“Can’t be easy for them,” she said as nonchalantly as she could. “For any of the Avengers, to have a normal relationship, I mean.”

“Takes a special kind of woman to deal too. At least, I like to think so,” said Darcy with a look. “I think we got it covered.”

“We?” asked Mary-Kate as the pile of blocks fell to the floor.

Both women laughed when Phil made a little sad sound and then just as quickly started trying to build the tower all over again.

“C’mon,” said Darcy then, looking directly at Mary-Kate. “You and the Cap? We all know about that.”

“Know what exactly?”

“That he likes you, you like him,” she rolled her eyes. “It’s cool. I mean, you both need somebody to love, right? And I doubt you could get a more upstanding decent guy than Steve Rogers. Quite the hottie too,” she smirked wickedly.

The slumber party vibe that had started to take hold ended abruptly when suddenly J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke.

“Excuse me, ladies. Mr Stark and Mr Rogers were hoping Miss Mary-Kate might join them in the conference room.”

“Me?” she asked, looking genuinely stunned by the invitation.

Actually, Darcy was a little surprised herself. There was no reason why the hero types couldn’t come down to the apartment for a visit with Mary-Kate and/or Baby Phil. Besides, they had sent her down here to break the news, so it made little sense to now summon the poor woman to a meeting.

“I’m sure Miss Lewis would not object to watching the baby whilst you’re gone,” J.A.R.V.I.S. advised Mary-Kate. “I assure you, it won’t take long.”

“Er, yeah, it’s cool,” Darcy confirmed, even through her confusion. “I got Baby Phil covered, I promise,” she told Mary-Kate with a smile. “We’re all good, right, kid?” she asked the baby, dropping down onto the carpet and reaching to take him from his mother.

He went willingly and Mary-Kate got up from the floor, brushing fibres from her skirt.

“Well, if you’re sure,” she said, looking a little pained. “If it’s only going to take a few minutes.”

She moved to leave and Darcy helped Phil to wave goodbye to his mommy. Mary-Kate trusted the other woman with her baby, and she trusted that the Avengers would not be calling her to a meeting unless it was absolutely necessary. Besides, the building was locked down, no harm could come to any of them. Taking a deep breath, Mary-Kate let herself out of the rooms she called her own and went across to the elevator.

Darcy was happily playing with Phil, all her confusion about the situation having dissipated as she concentrated on keeping the little boy amused. She recalled the baby-sitting shifts she and Bruce had done together and grinned wide, wondering if they would ever be as close as they were now if not for the little one.

“You did good, kid,” she told Phil, hugging him close. “Sure did help Uncle Bruce and Aunt Darcy make a connection, and I for one am grateful.”

The baby giggled and Darcy couldn’t help but do the same, his laughter was just so infectious, but a moment later, when their own voices subsided, Darcy heard a new sound.

* * *

It was almost too easy and definitely too much fun. After being locked up in his cell on Asgard, Loki was ready to stretch his muscles, both literally and in the sense of his powers. Disguising his form came almost disgustingly easy after so many years practice. He freely wandered into the building without anyone being any the wiser. A night spent creeping like a ghost through the tower that bore the name of Stark, he learnt all he needed to know, and was ready by dawn to cause a little chaos and to retrieve his son and heir.

Down to the lab he went, hanging back when he realised Romanov was there. She was far too shrewd to be fooled the first time. Loki knew trying again was just foolish. Banner would be easier, he had a weakness, in fact, it seemed these days he had two. The monster unleashed created a kind of havoc that Loki craved, plus to have his revenge on the beast would be so very sweet. Becoming just a whispering voice in the dark, it didn’t take much prodding to awake the other side of Banner’s character. Mind control wasn’t so easy on a strong-willed man, but it was never impossible. The right words used, the right buttons pushed. It didn’t take all the much for strain to show on the doctor’s face.

Everything was in place when Loki imitated the voice of Stark’s AI, summoning sweet Mary-Kate to a make-believe audience with the others, the so-called Avengers. They might have prevented the war Loki tried to begin the last time he walked on Midgard, but they would not keep his son from him.

With a cackle of purely evil laughter, Thor’s adopted brother watched the Hulk emerge from Banner’s body with an almighty roar. Now there was nothing to do but wait for the in-fighting and death to follow, until none was left but the boy he had come to retrieve. It was all exceptionally amusing.

* * *

If she didn’t know any better, Darcy would say it was an earthquake, a low rumbling, vibrations coming up from the very centre of the world, or at least the base of the building. Darcy had the urge to run to the nearest doorway just in case, but barely got the chance to move an inch before the alarm sounded, like a whole rake of sirens blaring over the top of each other. Phil screamed at the sound and Darcy winced terribly wondering what it meant. She scrambled to her feet with the baby in her arms, looking in all directions for a place to run to or hide in. It was all in vain.

Within seconds the rumbling grew worse and then with a sudden and almighty crash, all the windows along the opposite wall came smashing inward, showering glass everywhere. Darcy shielded Phil with her whole body and dived to the end of the couch, avoiding most of the debris. When the glass finally stopped falling, she dared to turn her head and see what the hell had happened. There before her stood the ominous green form of the Hulk, and he did not look happy.


	6. Chapter 6

“Tony, what’s happening?” asked Pepper.

She was trying not to seem as hysterical as she actually felt when the building seemed to shake beneath their feet. Honestly, it didn't come easy to anybody present.

“J.A.R.V.I.S.?” called Stark himself.

“I believe the tower has been infiltrated, sir,” said the ever-calm and polite AI. “Extensive damage to the fifth floor on the south side of the building.”

“Oh my God!” Mary-Kate gasped. “My baby!”

Steve pulled her into his arms and held on tight. She wanted to run for the door, to go and face whatever danger had just appeared. He understood that, but he couldn’t let her do it. As amazing as Steve believed Mary-Kate to be, she was but a mere mortal in terms of a fight. If Loki or something equally as dangerous was destroying property and wreaking havoc, the last think Mary-Kate should be doing was running towards it.

“Time to go,” said Natasha, looking at Clint and nodding once.

He wasted no time in grabbing his bow and arrows and following her to the door. They didn’t know exactly what they were going to face, but that didn’t matter. If Phil was in danger, if anybody was in danger, it was their job to save them. Nat tried not to wince when she recalled that it was Darcy who had been sent to tell Mary-Kate that a visit from Loki was likely. She had to be down there with the baby even now, and that gave her pause for thought. How Bruce would react to any harm coming to Darcy, she couldn’t bear to think. The last thing this situation needed was a rampaging Hulk.

Little did the agents know that was exactly what they were headed towards. In Mary-Kate’s apartment, Darcy cowered against the edge of the couch still, Phil held close in her arms as she watched the thing Bruce referred to as ‘The Other Guy’ beat his chest and yell into the ceiling, or at least what was left of the ceiling.

She kept on telling him she wasn’t afraid of what he became, but Darcy had never been face to face with the Hulk until now. She didn’t want to be scared, but quite honestly, it was a tough ask to be entirely calm and comfortable.

Baby Phil was screaming for all he was worth, red in the face now with tears streaming from his eyes. Darcy bounced him a little in her shaking arms, trying to calm him down. She looked up at the Hulk and wondered how this had happened, what triggered the change. She was also wondering at the way the man she liked so much could become this thing at the flick of a switch. He wore Bruce’s pants, torn and stretched as they were, but the rest of him was so deformed and strangely green, it was impossible to see a resemblance. That’s what Darcy thought at first, until suddenly he leant down and put his large face level with her own.

The eyes gave him away more than anything. Green skin and over-sized muscles were kind of disorientating and inhuman, but those eyes, they were still his. They were still Bruce’s eyes and behind them had to lie all the same good sense and feelings that were there before. Darcy thought that had to be how it worked. Right now, she wasn’t so sure, but she had to hope.

“Bruce?” she tried, but only got a roar for her trouble.

“Hulk!” The Other Guy yelled loudly, slamming a fist into his chest.

“Okay, okay. Hulk,” she tried instead. “I... I don’t know if you remember me. We’ve never officially met, but I’m Darcy,” she told him, trying to keep the shake out of her voice, though it proved next to impossible. “I’m Darcy and this is Phil. You remember?”

Darcy had no idea something often described as a rage monster could look quizzical or confused, but somehow Hulk managed it. All she could assume was that even as The Other Guy, Bruce was still in there. He had very little control over his anger and rage, but he was in there. If Bruce knew Darcy then Hulk did too, since they were essentially two sides of the same coin, at least that was how Bruce himself had put it before now. She had to get through to him somehow, for Phil’s sake as well as her own. God only knew what had caused the transformation, though Darcy would lay good money it had to do with Loki and his mind-control bag o’ tricks. Her focus now had to be stopping Hulk before he did something crazy. Well, crazier than smashing through a row of windows and roaring at her like a wild beast anyway.

“Dar-cy,” he said suddenly, two distinct syllables but definitely her name.

“Yeah, that would be me,” she said as loudly as she could, aware of the fact he was a long way up from her height and the wind rushing in through the gap where the wall should be was probably taking away from her volume too. “Um, you didn’t seem too thrilled when I mentioned Bruce before,” she continued, breathing hard, trying to ignore the growl that emoted from Hulk at the sound of his alter-ego’s name. “But I really need to talk to him right now,” she explained. “Like, really do.”

She tried not to flinch when Hulk suddenly came closer. Darcy did not want to be afraid, and maybe she would be slightly less freaked out if she wasn’t holding Phil in her arms. She was concentrating so much on not crushing him to death with the way she was holding him tight. As much as this was a version of Bruce before her, Hulk was unpredictable. He didn’t have whatever it was that made normal well-adjusted humans back off before they did something bad or dangerous. In that respect he was not the scientist guy that Darcy was so attracted to, not even a little bit. At the same time, he was in there, she was sure on that, and truly believed if anyone could get through to the man behind the monster it was her.

“Bruce?” said Hulk carefully. “Weak!” he declared then.

That was when Darcy started to go from scared to all kinds of mad.

“No,” she shook her head. “He is not weak. You might have the brute force and ignorance, but Bruce is the strong one. He contains you, he forces you down almost every time you try to rise up,” she said firmly, getting to her feet now. “You’re just the monster. He is the man. You can’t be stronger than him. You can knock down every building from here to the end of the world, but he is always going to be stronger!”

Hulk looked amazed. Angry still, but amazed at the same time. Darcy swallowed hard, uncertain of what she had done. Phil had stopped crying at last, so she counted that as an achievement. He was actually trying to wriggle out of her grasp now, trying to turn to see what was going on. With his head over her shoulder, Darcy had not allowed him to see anything until now when he really wasn’t giving her a choice. Phil twisted his little body until her only choice was to let him move around in her arms. Staring up at Hulk with the widest of wide eyes, Phil suddenly grinned, and then he laughed. Darcy immediately pulled him close to her body again.

Hulk didn’t laugh. Darcy wasn’t convinced he knew how to even smile, and yet his mouth twisted into something akin to an amused expression, or at the very least something less angry than before. More than anything, the big guy looked confused, a little lost. It was as if whatever angry plan he had when he bust in here, he had forgotten what it was now. Darcy wondered at the fact that he ever really had a plan at all. From what she had been told and seen on video, Hulk’s main aim was crush, kill, destroy with no real rhyme or reason to his actions. She also knew he could be kind though, that he had real thoughts amongst the blank canvas of Hulk’s base responses. He had saved Tony’s life in the Battle of New York. He had feelings. Darcy just had to keep on trying her best to tap into them.

“Please, listen to me,” she urged him. “There’s no danger here, nobody for you to save, and nobody for you to hurt. If Bruce knows that I’m not a threat then Hulk does too. I know you don’t want to hurt us, I believe it, and I need for you to believe it too,” she implored him.

Hulk staggered backward towards the broken windows, turning a weird circle in the open area of the room. Darcy flinched back when he came her way again. She wasn’t worried for herself so much as for Phil. If the kid got away from her now, goodness only knew what could happen. He wasn’t afraid and that was cool, but this situation needed just a little fear to keep it from getting ugly. Darcy had to be at least somewhat wary of Hulk. He was Bruce but not enough to keep her completely safe, especially not if something other than anger was messing with Bruce’s head. Loki was here, and the thought hit her right between the eyes now she had time to think a minute that maybe, just maybe, more was at play here than Bruce losing his temper out of nowhere.

Collapsing to the ground, Hulk was on all fours and breathing so hard that Darcy felt as if she were being hit by a wind machine very time he exhaled. Still, she crept forward, shielding Phil in her arms just in case. She moved until she was stood to one side of Hulk and then laid a gentle hand on his bulging green bicep. He flinched at the touch, glaring at her a second, before that nasty look subsided to something softer, almost kinder somehow.

“It’s okay,” she promised, and little by little she realised he believed her.

It was the strangest thing to watch happen, the green and sheer bulk of the Hulk melting before her eyes into more familiar features and the recognisable shape of a man. The whole time, Darcy kept her eyes locked onto his own, until at last she was seeing nothing but Bruce Banner. His features wrinkled up in some kind of pain. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but no words came out, and then he was gone.

“Darcy!” a familiar male voice yelled and she immediately reacted.

Looking up, she saw Clint come running in, with Nat covering his back, the both of them more than ready to do battle.

“I’m fine,” Darcy promised. “Phil too. We’re fine.”

In spite of this, Nat still had her gun in her hands, checking every angle of the room as she entered. Clint cut past Darcy, Bruce, and the baby to check the other rooms. Eventually, the two agents met again and nodded assurances that everything was clear. Phil was reaching for Nat now, wriggling to be put down so he could get to her. The red-head’s lips quirked into a small smile as she let Darcy hand the baby over. After all, the poor intern had other things on her mind right now. Bruce was out cold on the carpet, all but naked and shivering terribly. It was a sad sight to see.

Clint wandered out into the hall, trying comms in an attempt to let the others know everyone was safe for now. At least the alarms had stopped their wailing, no doubt thanks to Stark’s best efforts. Nat surveyed the damage to the room, the smashed in windows and all. It was a hell of a mess, but it could have been worse. Buildings could be rebuilt much easier than people.

“The transformation takes it out of him,” said Natasha knowingly, getting Darcy’s attention. “Hulk feels nothing. Banner feels everything,” she explained as succinct as ever.

Darcy shook her head, taking off her sweater to cover Bruce’s back that shook still, even though he felt hot to the touch and was covered in a sheen of sweat. She didn’t wholly understand what physical effect the change had on Bruce, but what Romanov said about feelings was entirely inaccurate.

“Maybe the pain is nothing for the Hulk, and way worse for Bruce,” she considered. “But feelings? Hulk has feelings,” she smiled a little, looking from the unconscious form before her to Nat and back. “He knew me. Bruce knew me, even though The Other Guy was in charge. I... I think I brought him back to being himself,” she said, though she wasn’t entirely sure she believed it.

Nat wasn’t so sure either, but that wasn’t important right now. The bigger issue was what had caused Bruce to go big green rage monster in the first place. Coming down here to fight the good fight, Romanov and Barton had expected to find Loki or his minions here. They hadn’t been ready for the Hulk, though he had clearly been present moments before they arrived.

“Stark and Rogers are keeping Mary-Kate upstairs, out of harm’s way,” said Clint as he returned to the room. “She’s requesting the kid, obviously.”

Nat nodded, absently kissed Phil’s head and passed him over to her partner. Their arms touched in the hand over and he smiled slightly at the contact. She barely reacted, but he knew what she was thinking. Part of what drew them together was how well they knew each other, how they could almost read each other’s thoughts. They had seen the best and the very worst of each other, and still they couldn’t bear the idea of being apart too long.

“You good here?” he double-checked anyway.

“Affirmative,” she nodded once. “He’s not doing any more damage now. I can handle it.”

Clint returned her single nod and then took the baby to his mother. Nat turned to see Darcy still huddled on the floor beside Bruce, talking softly to him. She could barely hear the words, but it sounded like comfort and reassurance, which was good.

“He’ll probably be out for a while,” said Nat as she crouched down beside the pair. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but we should get him somewhere secure, just in case,” she said with a look Darcy didn’t care for. “Hey, I’m the last person that wants to lock him in a cage, trust me. I was the one telling him to cut loose a little with you,” she smirked.

“Are you serious?” Darcy checked.

“Have you ever known me be anything else?” she joked a little. “I think you’re good for him. Banner is a good man, he just has an unfortunate condition. If he’s found someone unphased by what he has been and what he can be, he would be a fool not to grab on with both hands and never let go,” she said definitely. “But that doesn’t change the fact that we have to be smart about this. If he changed without intending to, which we have to assume he did, then we need to consider what caused that change. The last time it happened without Bruce's intent, it was Loki.”

Darcy knew that. She heard all about the Helicarrier incident from Thor, after the Battle of New York that followed. She knew that Natasha had borne the brunt of Hulk’s temper then and wasn’t sure what to think. She seemed to care a lot for Bruce in spite of what had happened, and yet she had a man in her life already. Her and Clint were so obviously in love from the get-go, Darcy knew she had no worries about Natasha stepping on her toes where Bruce was concerned.

“If he was here... Loki, I mean,” said Darcy then. “Wouldn’t we know for sure?”

Nat opened her mouth to answer but in an instant she was up, turning towards the smashed windows with her gun drawn. She heard something, felt something, a change in the air, an odd sound. The sky was growing darker and suddenly she realised it was unlikely to be a threat that was coming. Darcy knew it too as lightning arced through the air and suddenly he appeared.

“That never really gets any the less impressive,” said Darcy with a sigh of relief.

“Darcy!” Jane rushed from Thor’s embrace to hug her friend the moment they landed.

“Agent Romanoff,” Thor nodded a greeting to the agent. “I believe my brother has returned to wreak his usual havoc.”

“Apparently he chose the Hulk to do it... again,” she said sadly, casting a look towards Bruce’s prone form.

“Banner!” said Thor in his usual loud manner, stooping to shake Bruce’s shoulder. “He is but sleeping?”

“From the change back, yeah,” Darcy confirmed, not sure where the dampness on her cheeks was coming from at first, and feeling stupid when she realised it was there at all. “Uh, he’ll be okay, I think. Where’s Loki?”

“We don't know,” said Jane, shaking her head. “As soon as we realised he was out of jail, we followed him here, but we haven’t actually seen him yet. We still don’t know how he found out about the baby.”

“He has his ways,” said Thor coldly. “He may yet be in this very building, but I cannot bind him if I cannot locate him.”

“So we locate him,” said Nat definitely. “As a team, we can do this,” she told the Asgardian who was so much a fan of doing things alone usually.

“As you wish, Romanoff,” he nodded at her idea. “How do you suggest we begin?”

“Stark?” she tried on the comms. “Do you read me?”

“Comin’ in less than loud and clear, Widow,” Iron Man’s alter-ago replied. “The Hulk Smash has knocked out some of the tech that makes these things work so well. That lightning storm what I think it was?”

“Affirmative,” she told him. “Thor is here, with Dr Foster. Loki is around but we still don’t know where.”

“Well, we’re going to know soon,” he assured her.

His voice changed then, sounding even less clear and yet oddly closer to her. Nat spun around to look outside and saw Iron Man hovering beyond the smashed windows. He flew into the room and landed with a bump, flipping open the face shield he wore.

“Rogers has a plan, and kids, it’s a doozy!”

* * *

Steve Rogers was not the kind of man that usually felt nervous at all. For himself, he really didn’t need to have any fear. He was all but indestructible within this body that Dr Erskine had made for him, but that wasn’t true of others. His mind drifted, he thought of Bucky who had long since passed, and of Peggy who was perilously close to letting age and illness take her away. Mortal men and women who he loved could all too easily slip through his fingers. Steve feared losing another, potentially two. Mary-Kate was a new person in his life, but he already cared for her a great deal. Her son was special to everyone within the Avengers team. Now Baby Phil and Mary-Kate’s lives both lay very much in his hands. Yes, Steve was nervous, and never more so than when Loki made his entrance into the room.

The doors flung open as if they had a mind of their own and then there he was, in the gold and green he thought so regal. Steve would love to tell him how foolish he looked, but that wouldn’t help right now. A plan was in place and Steve could only hope he had made the right call. The smirk on Loki’s face was not reassuring.

“Here we are again,” he said, arms spread wide. “In the tower of Midgard’s avenging forces. I imagine you think yourself quite the hero, Captain of this puny colony they call America.”

“I’m just a soldier,” said Steve, shaking his head. “I never pretended to be anything else.”

“Ah, but are we not all so much more than we seem?” replied Loki, peering over Steve’s shoulder to where another figure was half-hidden. “This young lady for example. So sweet and innocent in looks, and yet the truth is very different, is it not, Mary-Kate?”

Swallowing hard, she moved to step out from behind her protector. Steve tried to keep her behind him but she shook her head to tell him she wanted to do this. In her arms she held a bundle close to her chest and made a point of kissing it as she faced Loki and met his eyes.

“I made a mistake,” she spat, feeling physically sick just thinking of the night she lay with this monster. “A stupid, drunken mistake, and I would do nothing but regret it, if not for my baby.”

“Our baby, darling,” said Loki smartly, steel in his voice even as he smiled. “Quaint that you should name him for a man that I slayed myself. Almost poetic, do you not think so, Rogers?” he asked Steve who winced at how nonchalantly he spoke of Coulson’s death.

“Phil wasn’t named for Coulson, at least not by Mary-Kate,” he explained, though he wasn’t sure why he was bothering, except to buy time. “You came to see your son, Loki? Take a good look,” he encouraged him. “But one false move and he might be the last thing you ever see.”

Loki laughed long and loud, enough to shake the rafters, or so it seemed. Steve was glad of the sound, evil and heart-stoppingly cold as it was. It meant the plan was working.

“You think me a fool, Rogers? You really think that I would fall for such a ruse?” he checked, a hand to his chest as he continued to chuckle a while, but then turned deadly serious within a second. “You cover the child in blankets and cloths, place him in his mother’s arms, expecting me to believe he is a forgery. You would have me believe a double-cross is in play, that my son has been left to the charge of a mortal woman and a man with no powers but his skill with a mere bow and arrow?!” he boomed. “Idiots! I am Loki, of Asgard, and I have more intellect and power in one finger than your collective Avengers have in their entire beings!”

“You’re the idiot,” said Mary-Kate angrily, spitting in his face when he dared to step closer to her. “You think I’d stand here with my son in my arms and face you? You really think anybody would give a monster like you the chance to take the most precious thing they had in the world away from them?” she asked.

Loki’s hand shot out and grabbed her throat, forcing her chin up painfully. The air started to leave Mary-Kate’s body, and though Steve brought back his fist to strike Loki down, nothing could prevent his victim from dropping the bundle in her arms in an attempt to make Loki release his grip. The doll was exposed and Steve knew it was time to end this game.

“Now!” he yelled, getting Loki’s attention long enough that Mary-Kate could lash out and make her escape.

Loki folded in the middle the moment he received a swift kick between the legs. Mary-Kate dashed away and Steve threw a punch into Loki’s face to keep him down. Iron Man and Thor came rushing into the room, the latter binding his brother with bonds brought from Asgard that ought to hold him. There were no real guarantees, but the enchantments that Freya and her sisters had placed on the items ought to be enough. They had to hope so.

“Pepper?” asked Tony through his comms then, face plate up now the danger was over. “All clear,” he promised her. 

“Nooooo!” Loki yelled, a moment before the face piece locked down over his mouth, preventing another word.

Even then, he fought uselessly against his bonds, both at his hands and around his head. It was no use, not this time.

“I wish it could be another way, brother,” said Thor sadly. “But you do not learn your lessons as you should. I am sorry, but it must be so.”

“You did good, Cap,” said Tony, slapping Steve on the back. “Double cross the double crosser. I didn’t know you had it in you to be such a bare-faced liar!”

“I learnt from the best,” he smirked at his friend and team-mate. “But honestly, it was the most obvious play. In war, strategy is mostly figuring out what the enemy's next move will be before they make it. Loki would expect the diversionary tactic, Pepper and Clint taking Phil to safety. He was also smart enough to know that would leave Phil vulnerable.”

“The only way was to do what seemed like the dumb thing,” said Clint as he appeared in the doorway, deliberately shielding Pepper who carried the real baby.

“Phil!” Mary-Kate gasped, rushing to grab her child.

She trusted Pepper, as she did all of the Avengers, but there was no substitute for having her son in her own arms. He was her world. Mary-Kate couldn’t believe she ever thought she could give him up. Loki being his father, it didn’t matter. Phil was her son, her baby, and she would give anything to keep him safe. Now she realised that these heroes she had put her faith in really were worth her trust. They wanted nothing but the safety of her child and of her too. This was her family now, strange as it seemed, and Mary-Kate was looking mostly at Steve when that thought passed through her mind.

“Look upon him, Loki,” said Thor then, commanding everyone’s attention, not just that of his adopted brother.

He had a hold of Loki’s head and was forcing him to look toward Mary-Kate with Phil held tight in her arms. The baby knew nothing of what was going on and wriggled and kicked to be put down on the ground. Mary-Kate would not allow that, but she let him turn in her embrace and see his father.

“See what you did, brother. The child of light borne of your darkness,” said Thor to Loki. “Take heed, for this will be the only time you look upon him. Where you are going, there shall be only the darkness of which you are so fond. You shall never lay a hand on this woman again, nor lay so much as eyes upon her son. You are finished here, Loki. Believe it, brother, for it is the painful truth,” he said sadly.

Soon after, Thor took Loki away from the tower. The others went with them to ensure the journey back to Asgard was successful. Alone at last, save for Steve, Mary-Kate sank to her knees, crying helplessly as she gripped onto her baby for all she was worth. Steve walked over to her, pain etched on his every feature. He dropped to the floor beside her, wrapping his arms around her and Phil both, glad when she didn’t pull away but allowed herself to be held tightly in his embrace.

“It’s okay,” he told her sincerely. “You’re okay, and I promise, you always will be.”

* * *

It had been so many hours Darcy lost count. All she knew for sure was that every muscle in her body seemed to have cramped in this damn chair, and she probably should’ve showered and changed her clothes at some point. Somehow all these things seemed very small and unimportant as she watched Bruce breathe in and breathe out to a rhythm she had memorised. She willed him to wake, and yet there was no change, for hour upon hour, until finally, when Darcy thought she was going to go crazy from the waiting, there was movement.

“Hey,” she said, moving to sit on the edge of her bed, putting a comforting hand to Bruce’s face when he seemed to flinch in his sleep like something hurt or a nightmare was trying to get at him. “Bruce, it’s okay,” she promised, her fingers trailing through his hair. “It’s okay, you’re fine.”

His eyes flickered open and then as he looked up at her the panic seemed to subside. Bruce looked groggy and confused, but that Darcy knew was normal in the circumstances, at least from what the others had told her. She smiled just because he was back, and because she was with him.

“So, that’s what it’s like when the Hulk breaks out, huh?” she joked, in spite of how serious the situation had been at the time.

“Darcy?” he said too softly, swallowing hard. “I... What happened?” he asked, a hand going to his head as he pulled himself up to sit in the bed.

“You, er... You got angry, I guess,” she replied, finding it hard to concentrate when so much of his body became exposed again.

Bruce noticed her wandering eyes and pulled the covers up over his chest some, still feeling disorientated. He knew he had changed, he always knew. There was the rushing feeling of the anger and frustration taking over, before the actual transformation occurred. Usually everything from then to waking up in his human form was a complete blank, nothing but dark. This time it was slightly different. This time he remembered a little bit of something, just a few still frames, and a feeling. It was enough to make his eyes widen with surprise.

“What did...? What did you do?” he asked Darcy, clearly baffled by what he seemed to be remembering.

“Tamed the beast?” she tried. “I don’t know, it all happened so fast. You... Well, the Hulk half of you anyway, you came crashing into the room, and then... I don’t know exactly, I just talked to you. I tried to calm you down, get you back to the scientist guy we all know and love,” she smiled. “Somehow, it worked.”

Bruce couldn’t understand any of this. Nothing every ‘tamed’ the Hulk before. The effects wore off eventually, usually when he got away from everybody and everything. Hulk kind of ran out of steam and Bruce returned to his usual form, with no recollection of anything from the moment of the change. Now he saw her face, Darcy looking up at him through dust and debris. She had spoken to him, though he couldn’t tell what she said. He knew the feeling it evoked in him, the peace and warmth that triggered the switch back. It was amazing.

Without a word spoken or a coherent thought in his head, Bruce reached out a hand to Darcy’s face. He pulled her closer, leaned in himself, until finally their lips met. It was a chaste moment, but Darcy’s eyes fell shut all the same, and she was smiling when they parted.

“Thank you,” he said softly, and her happy expression only grew.

“You’re welcome, I guess,” she shrugged. “So, I’ve seen the so-called worst side of you, and right now you’re seeing a pretty embarrassing side of me,” she noted, looking down at her messy clothes and all. “After all that, we’re still making time for the lip-on-lip action. That’s got to be a positive sign, right?” she asked, one eyebrow quirked like she was making a sarcastic comment, and yet there was a vulnerable sort of a shake in her voice.

“Yeah,” said Bruce, swallowing hard and finding a smile for her too. “Yeah, I think it has to be.”

In his eyes, Darcy almost thought she could see a flicker of the green giant who had looked on her with unexpected kindness, but more than that, she saw hope. That was good enough for her.


End file.
